Microsoft Recognizes Research
In its newest implementation of the immensely popular
Office Suite, as released in beta 2, Microsoft has added
research functionality, drawing on resources from Alacritude's
eLibrary, Factiva's Publications Library, and Gale Group's
Company Profiles. Microsoft Office 2003 customers will
be able to conduct research through the Research Task
Pane on their screen. Searches can be run by right-clicking
on highlighted words and phrases within Office applications,
such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Access, or by entering
search terms in a search box. Abstracts from eLibrary
are available free of charge, but credit-card payment
is required for full text. Factiva and Gale also provide
some information free of charge, headlines in the case
of Factiva, and basic company data from Gale. Fulltext
and additional corporate information generally require
a subscription. Other research tools in Office 2003
will include the Encarta Encyclopedia and translation
services. As a productivity enhancer, adding a research
component to Office empowers individuals, although it
has the potential to destabilize the role of the corporate
library. Office 2003 is expected to be released this
summer [www.microsoft.com,
www.factiva.com,
www.alacritude.com,
www.gale.com].

Google Acquires Pyra Labs, Creator of Blogger
Pyra Labs, Inc., San Francisco, has agreed to be acquired
by Google Inc. for an undisclosed amount. Blogging,
the online journal publishing phenomenon, makes information
available from individuals in real time. Pyra's main
product is Blogger, which has a million registered users,
several of them familiar to those in the information
industry. Examples are Gary Price's The Resource Shelf
[www.resourceshelf.com],
hosted by Free Pint, and Peter Scott's library blog
[http://blog.xrefer.com],
hosted by xrefer. When asked about the intentions of
Google for the future of Blogger, Google CEO Eric Schmidt
was expansive about the potential of the blogging technology.
He never really answered the question as to what Google
would do with Blogger—increase Google's publishing
presence, put its search engine on top of Blogger (thus
competing with Daypop), or something else [www.google.com].

Short Takes

The acquisition of Hoover's by D&B became final
in March, based on the shareholders' vote. Austin Ventures
and Marathon Partners withdrew their competing bid.

In February, Reuters announced its intention to acquire
Multex, thus giving the financial news company a research
arm. The deal closed the end of March.

EBSCO announced it would acquire the U.S. operations
of RoweCom Inc., the divine inc. subsidiary that has
declared bankruptcy. EBSCO is also buying divine RoweCom
assets in Europe and Australia.

Legal

LoisLaw released LoisLaw
Public Records, an online database that contains
searchable and cross-referenced public information on
approximately 98 percent of the adult population in
the U.S. It enables subscribers to conduct searches
for individuals, property, motor vehicles, and parties
in civil actions [212/597-0381; www.aspenpubl.com].

LexisNexis has made available Practice
Commentaries from the National Institute for Trial Advocacy
(NITA). NITA's Practice Commentaries for the
United States Code assist practitioners with
interpreting the meaning of federal statutes and litigation
strategy development and are authored by attorneys with
significant courtroom experience. Headquartered at the
University of Notre Dame, NITA is a provider of continuing
legal education programs and materials [937/865-8844;
www.lexisnexis.com].

FindLaw has agreed to provide a comprehensive
collection of law-related content and resources to Clear
Channel Television Interactive, the Internet
subsidiary of Clear Channel Television. Under the agreement,
FindLaw will provide law-related material to approximately
40 Clear Channel Web sites, including FindLaw Breaking
Documents, FindLaw Research Centers, and U.S. Supreme
Court Resources [650/210-1900; www.findlaw.com].

Thomson Derwent launched the Thomson
Patent Store, offering users the ability to
order any patent document from anywhere in the world
through a single interface. Over 40 million patent documents
can be ordered through the Direct View one-click delivery
process, with documents available in PDF format via
e-mail or hard copy. Additionally, The Thomson
Derwent Patent Focus Report 2002-03 has been
released, offering a review of significant news and
events written by freelance journalist Joff Wild. The
report can be downloaded at no cost from the Derwent
Web site [800/336-4474; www.derwent.com].

Social Sciences & Humanities

Blackwell Publishing announced the
addition of over 250 social science and humanities journals
to its online research tool Blackwell Synergy.
Many of the articles are available in full-text HTML
and PDF formats and contain CrosRef links to cited articles,
JSTOR links to back volumes, and references to the ISI
database. Titles include top international peer-reviewed
journals in economics, business, geography, politics,
psychology, philosophy, and sociology [+44 1865 776868;
www.blackwell-synergy.com].

Gale added the Modern Language Association's
International Bibliography to its Infotrac
search platform. This literature and humanities
reference tool includes 1.5 million citations from 8,000
journals, dating from 1963 to the present, and is known
for its coverage in English, French, Spanish, German,
and Italian.

Gale also unveiled its first Spanish-language Resource
Center, Consulta,
as the centerpiece of a growing line of products for
the Spanish-speaking community. Through a partnership
with Barcelona-based Oceana Grupo Editorial,
Consulta includes 60 reference titles and over
1,600 primary source documents, as well as an Image
Gallery and extensive chronology records [800/877-4253;
www.gale.com].

H.W. Wilson enhanced its WilsonWeb
databases Art Full Text and Social
Sciences Full Text. The additions feature peer-reviewed
journals and core sourcebooks in their respective fields,
bringing total content to over 550 periodicals. Art
Full Text users will note increased coverage of crafts,
costumes and textiles, non-Western art, contemporary
art, and feminist art criticism, plus broader coverage
of archeology, architecture, and art history. Social
Sciences Full Text has more than doubled its coverage
of mass media and communications titles while also increasing
coverage of area studies [800/367-6770; www.hwwilson.com].

Sci-Tech

Thomson Derwent announced the development
of Derwent Web of Nanotechnology, the
only Web-based resource that delivers nanotechnology-related
patent records from Derwent, Thomson ISI, and editorially
approved Web sites. Over 35,000 patent records and 185,000
journal records from ISI Web of Science are
included, and the database is equipped with an alert
feature and advanced search capabilities [+44 (0) 20
7344 2800; www.derwent.com].

knovel Corporation announced the release
of six new chemistry references from major publishers
within their online offerings. Content now includes
66 interactive cross-searchable books and databases
totaling 285,000 records and is growing at a rate of
over 3,500 new records per month. New titles include
International Critical Tables of Numeric Data, Physics,
Chemistry and Technology; knovel Critical Tables; knovel
Solvents—A Properties Database; Thermochemistry
of the Chemical Substances; Smithsonian Physical Tables;
and Yaws Handbook of Thermodynamic and Physical
Properties of Chemical Compounds.

In the science and engineering reference areas, nine
new titles have been announced, including Military
Handbook—Composite Materials Handbook, Volumes
1­4; Air Pollution and Health; Contaminated Land
and Its Reclamation; Fluoroplastics—Melt Processible
Fluoropolymers, Volume 2; Indexing—A Nuts-and-Bolts
Guide for Technical Writers; and Single Sourcing
[607/648-4770; www.knovel.com].

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office
of Environmental Information noted that links to the
Chemical Registry System (CRS) and
the Biological Registry System (BioRS)
have been changed to the Substance Registry
System (SRS). Old links www.epa.gov/crs/
and www.epa.gov/biors have been replaced
with www.epa.gov/srs.

Business & Finance

The U.S. Census Bureau released the CensusCD
Neighborhood Change Database (NCDB) that presents
4 decades (1970, 1980, 1990 and 2000) of tract series
data. Information can be presented with either year-specific
boundaries or weighted and normalized to year 2000 boundaries,
allowing easy time series analysis with identical geographic
boundaries over time. Built-in mapping capabilities
are available, along with long- and short-form versions
of the product [800/577-6717; www.uscensus.net].

FluentMedia broadened its supply of
international news and commentary with the addition
of the Financial Times to its list
of information providers. Financial Times content will
be included as part of FluentMedia's premium daily filtered
news feeds, adding over 400 international news articles
per day [FluentMedia: 323/660-9004; www.fluentmediainfo.com;
Financial Times: 212/641-6417; www.ft.com].

OneSource Information Services announced
major enhancements to its Business Browser product
line. The new Find Executives module allows OneSource
subscribers to locate and research prospects and colleagues
by searching a database of over 6 million names and
250,000 biographies at over 1.7 million companies. The
Directory of Corporate Affiliations has also been updated
with 50,000 new companies and 90,00 branch and subsidiary
entries [978/318-4343; www.onesource.com].

Reuters and Factiva
have announced an expanded relationship that will increase
customer access to Factiva's content through Reuters'
financial products. The agreement covers two types of
Factiva services: Global Press Watch will be integrated
in Reuters' products aimed at trading and investment
professionals, and Knowledge Worker will be a component
in products offered to research-intensive financial
professionals and investment advisors. Both services
will be added at no additional cost to Reuters customers
[Reuters: 646/223-5224; www.reuters.com;
Factiva: 609/627-2342; www.factiva.com].

Online Services

ProQuest Information and Learning
announced the addition of the full text of The Wall
Street Journal to its family of ABI/INFORM
business databases. However, the archive will only be
available through ProQuest directly. Searchers who access
ABI/INFORM through a third-party distributor such as
Dialog or LexisNexis will not see The Wall Street
Journal.

ProQuest selected Innodata
Corporation to provide ongoing content product
manufacturing services on an extensive list of periodical
titles. Under the agreement, Innodata will provide XML
conversion and transformation services, digitization
and imaging services, and outsourced indexing and abstracting.
Innodata recently completed the digital conversion of
the entire production runs of The New York Times
and The Washington Post for ProQuest [ProQuest:
800/521-0600; 734/761-4700; www.il.proquest;
Innodata: 201/488-1200; www.innodata.com].

WilsonWeb database service is now
offering enhanced sharing of resources through WilsonLink,
powered by EX Libris's SFX technology.
Researchers and library patrons can click from citations
on WilsonWeb databases to the full text of articles
and related material that a library subscribes to. According
to Wilson, open-URL linking continues to be a growth
market within the library community [Wilson: 800/367-6770;
www.hwwilson.com;
Ex Libris: 877/527-1689; 773/404-5527; www.exlibris-usa.com].

Xrefer announced the availability
of a new content selection system for xreferplus,
its digital reference library. All subscribers will
now be able to choose the subscription option and content
selection that best suits their needs, as well as make
changes throughout the life of their subscription. The
new options are based on extensive consultations with
the library and information community, which directed
the company toward a more customer-led business model
[+44 (0) 20 7479 9203; www.xrefer.com].

BASF Corporation, the North American
affiliate of leading chemical company BASF AG, selected
EasyAsk to develop its search and navigation
corporate portal. Of particular interest to BASF were
the natural language query abilities of EasyAsk's technology,
with the goal of reducing duplicate report requests
among its 14,000 employees and increasing access to
business intelligence [BASF: 800/669-2273; 973/426-2800;
www.basf.com/static;
EasyAsk: 800/425-8200; www.easyask.com].

Libraryevents.com launched a new Web
site that provides details on news and events of interest
to the library community. A current awareness database,
monthly newsletter, training courses, exhibitions, and
conferences and library association meetings are compiled
[+46 411 121 70; www.libraryevents.com].

The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU)
has commissioned Snapshots International Ltd,
a publisher of top-line market research overviews, to
supply tailored industry data for its Country Indicator
Products and for use in its Executive Briefings. Industry
sectors covered will include IT, telecom, pharmaceutical,
energy, automotive, and retail for 40 countries [EIU:
+44 (0) 20 7830 1007; www.eiu.com;
Snapshots: +44 (0) 20 7829 8408; www.snapdata.com].

E-centives, Inc., a provider of interactive
direct marketing technologies and services,has acquired
ConsumerREVIEW.com, a producer of online
consumer product reviews and vertical Web communities.
ConsumerREVIEW.com will be run as a separate business
unit, combining the E-centive interactive relationship
marketing platform (IDBM) with the newly acquired product
review and feedback technologies [212/779-7779; www.e-centives.com].

Factiva and divine, Inc.
have announced Factiva's offer of a replacement product
for customers of divine's discontinued Special Collection
service. At no additional charge, qualified customers
will receive access to a special version of Factiva
along with a customized e-learning tool to ensure a
smooth transition [Factiva: 609/627-2342; www.factiva.com;
divine: 773/394-6746; www.divine.com].

Elsevier, Inc., The MIT Press, Sage Publications,
and Wiley Periodicals, Inc. have announced
a settlement in the Westwood Copies
copyright infringement suit. The defendants have agreed
to pay an undisclosed amount in damages for past unauthorized
copying of publications owned by the plaintiffs. The
original claim filed by the publishers was coordinated
by the Copyright Clearance Center and charged the defendants
with producing unauthorized course packs for courses
taught at the University of Los Angeles.

EBSCO Information Services, partnering
with ExLibris, now provides the invoice
data and format specifications that allow libraries
using the ALEPH500 system to load EDIFACT serials invoices
from EBSCO. An interface between the two systems allows
EDIFACT invoice files to be transmitted to the customer
via Internet File Transfer Protocol (FTP). The University
of Minnesota, Twin Cities, was the first U.S. library
to implement the system and has found it to be a success
[EBSCO: 205/980-6794; www.ebsco.com;
ExLibris: 877/527-1689; 773/404-5527; www.exlibrisgroup.com].

Search Engines

Thunderstone Software LLC has introduced
the Thunderstone Search Appliance that
can reportedly handle 10 times the load of other turnkey
search solutions. As a complete Web-search or intranet-search
tool, it serves 1,000 typical searches per minute and
indexes most document formats, including HTML, PDF,
JavaScript links and content, and word processor files
[216/820-2200; www.thunderstone.com].

Atomica released GuruNet 4.0,
an advanced version of its Atomica Slingshot application,
which delivers real-time and reference information by
a single click on a word or phrase. GuruNet operates
in any Windows environment, providing an instant definition,
overview, or snapshot description compiled from over
50 premium content sources [845/818-3988; www.atomica.com].

Specializing in visual investigative analysis software,
anacubis, a division of the Washington,
D.C.-based i2 Group, has announced
the availability of the anacubis Viewer
for online information portals. As a Web-enabled visualization
product, it enables end users and information professionals
alike to navigate online business information and uncover
hidden relationships and trends within data, resulting
in a pictorial view of a particular organization, market
or area of interest. The anacubis Viewer has been incorporated
into recently announced partnerships with LexisNexis
and Questel•Orbit [408/969-4888; www.anacubis.com].

Sirsi Corporation, a provider of library
management software, has announced that MuseGlobal
technology will be incorporated into the release of
Sirsi SingleSearchT, version 2. SingleSearchT
allows users to search multiple network-accessible information
resources simultaneously from a single interface, and
Version 2 includes broadcast search functionality [Sirsi:
www.sirsi.com;
MuseGlobal: 775/832-6698; www.museglobal.com].

Peopleware

George Plosker has left Gale Group
to start his own consulting company, George Plosker
and Associates (650/631-9251), aimed at helping publishers
and libraries develop marketing, product, and service
programs that improve alignment with their customers.

FIZ Karlsruhe has named Sabine Brunger-Weilandt
as managing director, succeeding Professor Georg Friedrich
Schultheiss who retired in April 2003. A management
and marketing expert, Ms. Brunger-Weilandt has held
senior management positions and worked as a consultant
for major corporations throughout Germany.

knovel Corporation has named Delores Meglio
as editorial director, overseeing publisher contract
negotiations and content aggregation for corporate and
academic markets. Ms. Meglio has held executive positions
at Ziff-Davis, Thomson Corporation, and the New York
Times. Additionally, Glenn Pagan has
been named vice president of sales at knovel, where
he will be responsible for building and maintaining
the sales force and developing strategic relationships.
Mr. Pagan brings executive experience from Interactive
Advertising Bureau, Time Warner, Sticky Networks, Inc.,
and News Alert to his new role.

Patrick Julius has been promoted to
vice president of licensing and publishing operations
at Cambridge Scientific Abstracts (CSA). He will be
responsible for managing CSA's relationships with information
industry organizations and leading special projects
in technology development. Mr. Julius has previous experience
with COMTEX News Network and LexisNexis.

Alacritude, LLC has announced the appointment of Rich
Kreisman as vice president of business development,
responsible for all revenue-generating activities. Previously
he held posts with Thomson's Gale Group and Bell &
Howell, as well as editorial positions at Business Week,
Advertising Age, and Inc. magazines. Additionally, Kathleen
Greenler has been named vice president of marketing
and product management for Alacritude. Ms. Greenler
has prior experience with Pinnacor, Office.com, and
was a founding member of AltaVista.

West Publishing has named Debbie Monroe, Ph.D.,
as senior vice president/general manager of FindLaw.
She will continue to oversee the strategic direction
and growth of the West Client Development Services business.
Ms. Monroe has led the company's FindLaw business since
it was acquired in January 2001.

Gordon Petrash, former Dow Chemical
Intellectual Asset Management (IAM) leader, and Delphion
chief IP strategist Rob Williamson
have formed a team of IAM experts to provide IAM best
practices guidance services. Petrash-Williamson has
developed a comprehensive library and will be working
with organizations attempting to transition their IAM
practice from a legal-focused process to a business-focused
process.

Somia Mourad has been promoted to
director, global strategy, for Thomson Legal & Regulatory,
the lead market group of The Thomson Corporation.

MARC Link has named Maritta Coppieters
as vice president, sales, and marketing, filling the
position vacated by retiring Sharon Cline McKay. Ms.
Coppieters will lead a library sales group for worldwide
sales and take responsibility for the company's marketing
activities.

EOS International has announced the appointment of
former Microsoft executive, Salvatore Provenza,
as director of sales and marketing for the Americas
and the Asia Pacific regions.

Innovative Interfaces has announced the appointment
of Sharon Hurd as director of sales,
Digital Solutions. Ms. Hurd has held senior management
positions with Northern Light Technology and EBSCO.

Former WebMD executive producer Dominique Walton
Brooks, M.D., has joined NewsRX as senior medical
editor. In addition, three board-certified life science
editors have joined the team as senior medical writers:
Janet L. Tremaine, Nancy S.
Wachter, and Michelle B. Arneson.

ProQuest Company announced the appointment of Ron
Klausner as president, ProQuest Information
and Learning.